Tuesday 15 October 2024

Deadline: NBCUniversal Restructures Ad Exec Ranks; Sports Vet And Olympics Chief Dan Lovinger Among Staffers Exiting

Story from Deadline:

Dan Lovinger, who recently spearheaded NBCUniversal‘s advertising bonanza at the Paris Olympics, is among a handful of employees exiting the company amid a broad restructuring of its ad exec ranks.

The overhaul was announced Monday by Alison Levin, President of Advertising and Partnerships, who joined NBCU last December after nearly nine years at Roku.

Along with the departures of some staffers, Levin also signaled plans to hire some new workers in emerging business areas. She will address the changes in a virtual all-hands meeting on Tuesday.

Of the approach to sports, Levin wrote, “This expanded team, which will now include all Olympic sales as well as our Sports vertical, will leverage a unified strategy across all sports assets to maximize revenue from our properties and will be led by Peter Lazarus.” In 2022, Lazarus was promoted to the lead role overseeing sports advertising, while Lovinger was shifted into an Olympics-centric post. His title was President, Olympic and Paralympic Sales. Lovinger joined NBCU in 2011 after prior exec stints at MTV Networks, CNBC and Turner Broadcasting.

“This new structure means we are also saying goodbye to some of our longtime colleagues and friends,” Levin wrote. “These decisions are never easy, and I want to thank those leaders for their dedication and many contributions to NBCUniversal. Our business is stronger today because of their hard work.

“As we look forward, it is imperative that we support one another and continue to foster a culture of transparency and collaboration. I am incredibly bullish on our future, and with this new streamlined structure, I know we have the right strategy, the right assets, and the right team in place to grow our market share and better position us to succeed.”

NBCU said it brought in more than $1.25 billion in ad and sponsorship revenue from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, a new Olympic record.

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